Concrete (The Conservation of)

In June 2014, the Getty Conservation Institute convened a meeting of experts in the conservation of historic concrete buildings and structures to identify the knowledge gaps and consider key areas where research, education and training, and the creation and dissemination of literature on the subject will serve to advance the field. Conserving Concrete Heritage Experts Meeting Report provides a summary of the meeting’s presentations, discussions and outcomes, as well as a proposed plan of action.

The publication identifies a number of primary issues affecting the practice of concrete conservation. The following is an extract:

Although the concrete industry is vast, with the concrete repair industry representing a large proportion of this, concrete conservation as a specialized activity is a very small subset. The audience for this topic can be divided by profession: contractor, engineer, architect, conservator, and so on. It can also be categorized in two groups: those who are highly knowledgeable about concrete, but have little or no knowledge of or interest in conservation, and those who are conservation professionals, but have little or no knowledge of or experience with concrete. In addition, the group agreed that it was important to reach beyond those who are looking for specific information in order to make information about concrete conservation more accessible generally, encouraging greater interest in and knowledge about the conservation of concrete heritage.